Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 February 1943 — Page 20

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‘Give Light oi the People Will Find Their own Way

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1043

THE JAPS COME BACK FOR MORE

A NOTHER battle is on in the Solomon seas. Whether it is a “major effort” by the Japs as the navy depart- ~ ment says, or only a “feeler”’ as the constantly overconfident . secretary of the navy says, there is much fighting. Assuming that Jap claims of a great victory are absurd, ~ as they have been in earlier battles in that area, the public should be prepared for American losses. That is part of the price. But it is not unreasonable to hope that, before this continuing engagement of ships and planes is over, our forces will drive back the Japs with heavier losses. For ~ we have many advantages which we lacked in the battles of . last fall: For three months our naval commanders have been concentrating strength in preparation for just such an attack—despite Secretary Knox's statements that he did not ~ expect the Japs to fry to reinforce Guadalcanal. We have apparent air superiority in that region in number and quality of planes, and certainly. our pilots are better—as the fighting score has proved to date. : » » ” 8 » » IN the important matter of carriers, both sides have lost ™ heavily in the past and it is not known which has the edge. But even more important are the so-called “unsinkable carriers,” or land air bases. There is our biggest advantage. : We hold Henderson field on Guadalcanal, which dominates the air of the entire south Solomons—it is the only air base there. Against that, the Japs have only the badly bombed Munda base in the central Solomons. . Moreover, MacArthur, by cleaning the enemy out of Papua, is in-better position to increase his bombing of Jap sea lanes and bases in the Solomons and the super-base "of Rabaul on the northern tip of New Britain island. - Admiral Halsey, our aggressive commander-in-chief in the South Pacific, has been wanting another major ‘battle, because he was convinced we could win it. If we do win it; the victory could be decisive in that area. It could make doubly secure our supply lines to those islands and to Australia and New Zealand. It could open the way for an offensive against Rabaul, and eventually against Truk—the Jap “Pearl Harbor.” It could whittle down the enemy’s sea and air strength in the entire Pacific.

CHINA'S NEW YEAR ‘MN her 4640th anniversary today we wish China a happy new year. That happiness, o of course, depends on licking the Jap invaders. Americans are aware that_ our ally is deeply disappointed over the amount of aid we have been able to give * her. Recent appeals by the Chinese ambassador in Washington and Americans such Gen. Chennault, Col. Scott and ~ Pearl Buck, have been noted. So have such official Chinese ~ acts as the shift in “ambassadors here and the withdrawal of the ignored military mission from Washington.

But we ask our Chinese allies to understand that the -

inadequate relief of recent months is not the measure of American appreciation of China's long battle against our common enemy, and is not the value we place on the great importance of the Chinese front to us and to the united nations. It was impossible for us to equip our own essential forces and meet all the demands of all the world fronts at

the same time; and, since the loss of Burma, we e have had |

no major supply line to China.. Nevertheless, given Washington's determination and a little more of the patience which has made China so ad‘mired among nations, there is assurance that this will be a much better year on the Chinese front.

‘CONFUSION INSURED

AONE those urging a real war cabinet, to straighten out the confusion in Washington, is the citizens bureau of governmental research of New York state. Its executive ead, Abbett Pulliam, sums up the present trouble concisely ind accurately: : “The appointment of so-called ‘czars’ only creates more confusion and insures continual conflicts because the ‘czars’ are given responsibility for functions but are not given authority over people. What we have now is a one-way ‘arrangement for the transmission of orders. It leaves upon the man who receives orders the problem of deciding which ne of the officials who sent him the orders is really the ne the president wants obeyed today. ~ “This is what made the present rubbsr controversy nevitable. Others are sure to come. It can’t be otherwise, war management is now organized.” :

JAY TO RESUME IS TO RES! Be QTE to. the treasury experts and congress:

a the rate you are going, it Tooks as if you will spend s arguing about the ‘Ruml plan. Meanwaile, most of

only way to start a taxation’ Is to start :

you-go. taxation,

this evil shakedown,

ation of Labor, and send them to Tom C. Clark, chief of the war frauds unit, department of justice, Wash-

ington, accompanied in each case by an explanatory | ‘letter, preferably brief, it may be your satisfaction to

see such union vermin punished by large fines or sent to prison or both, Wherever you worked, whether on a cantonment in Massachusetts, an air field in Texas, a shipyard in California or a pipeline across Illinois, if you were forced to pay graft to any such thieves under threats of dismissal, and provided you were not admitted to full membership in the local union, you have been robbed within the present meaning of the anti-kick-back law and the penalty may be a fine as high as $10,000 and five years in prison. i

Four Fined $10,000 Each

ALREADY, FOUR such crooks have been caught in Albany, N. Y. and fined $10,000 each. They are the McGraws, Thomas F. and John, father and son, George J. Mannl and Jacob Betar, officers of local 106 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, and intimate professional and social col-

leagues of rum-dum Joe Fay, an international vice

president of this corrupt organization, Their racket was to shake down American workers on the Voorheesville regulation station,.a war project, for $2 a day. They extorted about $50,000 on this job alone between August, 1941, and February, 1942, were indicted in the U. 8. district court last June and pleaded guilty to conspiracy under the -kickback law. They did not even put up-a contest. . Thereupon William E. Maloney, of Chicago, the international president of the racket, announced that they would be suspended from office in their local,

It's Mighty [Curious

IF THEY WERE suspended, it certainly is mighty curious that the same Tom McGraw and the same Mannl and James McDonald and Augustus Martin Shock were indicted as late as last Nov. 25 for operating a similar shakedown in the name of the same local on another government job in the same vicinity, known as the Scotia naval supply depot, from June to November last year. The anti-kickback law. was dusted off by poor old Thurman Arnold of the anti-trust division after he had lost two contests in the supreme court under the anti-trust and anti-racketeering laws, Poor old Thurman became the Joe Grimm of the department of justice, He was always on the floor, spitting out teeth and phoning home afterward to say, “I lose again, Mamma.” Two years ago, Mathias Correa, the U. S. district attorney in the southern district of New York, told me the anti-kickback law wouldn't apply to kickbacks extorted by unioneers, but Mr. Arnold got desperate and finally authorized Mr. Clark to see ¥hat he could do with it.

| Maybe 'Dam Has Bust’

UP. TQ NOW, we can’t be positive that it will work because you know how this supreme court stands on union racketeering since that opinion of Justice Byrnes vindicating highway robbery by union-

-eers even though they had criminal records.

But so far everything is all right and if you have been robbed of your pay under the corrupt permitsystem practiced by so many A. F. of L. unions, send your receipts to Clark with a letter explaining just what happened and he will turn the individual cases over to the FBI for verification. Pals, up to now it certainly does look as though

the dam has bust.

In Washington

By Peter Edson

; WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.—War Manpower” Commissioner Paul V. McNutt came through three mornings of inquisition on Capitol Hill, but that ain’t all. Investigations of manpower policy are just a beginning of the shooting. From all this welter of words, Commissioner McNutt seems to emerge unruffied and immaculate. The hearings on the bill, he says, have all been conducted in the most friendly manner. Buttering up the congressmen, the commissioner declares they are all simply trying to get at the truth of the situation. Buttering-up their boss, McNutt’s aids say he knows so much more about manpower than most of his critics, that when he explains the situation as he sees it there isn’t anything left to say. :

Believes Army Asking Too Much

MR. McNUTT leans to the view that the armed services are asking for too much on what is purely an emotional basis of just wanting a big army for its own sake. The limiting factor should" be, according to Mr. McNutt, not the size of an army that can be raised but the size of an army that can be transported | overseas.

What happens if any of those expeditionary forces |. suffer such losses that they have to be entirely re- |i}, placed, or what happens if those expeditionary forces ||

are defeated and the United States has to fight a

defensive war at home is apparently considered not |

worth bothering about. Also overlooked is the possible

need for large armies of occupation after the war. |

Mr. McNutt believes that the army “has given him full information on its plans, though’ it has’'not told him what or where the forces are to be used.

As for the farm lsbor demand, Mr. McNutt has

simply handed that problem over fo the department of agriculture and from here on it is Presumably Secretary of Agriculture Wickard's worry,

' Peak to Come This Fall -

THIS GENIUS of Mr. McNutt’s for handing prob-

practiced | mainly by construction unions of the American Fedet-

The Hoosier Forum: I wholly disagree with what gou say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

“‘4.F’ MEN BELITTLED IN THOUGHTLESS WAYS”

By Geneva Shoemaker, 310 N. Alabama sf. At my small lunch counter in downtown Indianapolis I hear many people’s complaints and compliments on the passing events of the days. The most disgusting remarks of all are the thoughtless ways in which they belittle the men of “4-F” classification. I still have a few of my younger customers left and as the public would say, they are “rejects.” They are some of the finest, well-cul-utred, straight, clean-cut men that vou could ever meet. Many of them would prefer the army rather than

nate to have. It isn’t doing them justice to make them feel like a “heel” when really they are trying hard to do their part: by buying war bonds, giving blood and every other way they possibly can help. A man should be judged “not by the amount he gives, but from the amount he has to give from.” A man of plenty gives a bond a week, but still has many luxuries. The poor man gives a bond a month, but- he must sacrifice to buy that bond. To me the poor man is doing far more for his country than the wealthier man, 8» » : “WE NEED WHOLESOME SENSE OF HUMOR” By J. A. Keyes, 728 N. East si. Red Skelton is not or never ‘has been my favorite radio comic, but I fail to see that his Casablanca crack’ last Tuesday. was inept, disrespectful or evidence of a perverted sense of humor as charged by Mr. J. C. Manning in his letter to the Forum. It seems to me that the perverted sense of humor belongs to Mr. Manning, who misquoted Skelton, who said, “Wasn't it funny it was Mr. instead of Mrs.” and not that

1he was surprised that it was the

President. . ., Mr. Manning evidently does not understand American humor. I'll bet President Roosevelt or the First Lady got a laugh out of that crack if either of them heard it. Furthermore, a newsreel showing

the handicap they &re so unfortu-|

"| wholesome sense of humor.

(Times readers are invited - to express their views in ‘these columns, religious. controversies excluded. Because of the volume received, leiters must be. limited to 250 words. Letters must be signed.)

scenes of the meeting shows the prime minister with a grin and President Roosevelt laughing most heartily about something. - This

proves that humor evidently was,

present at this history-making event.

Ernie Pyle writes describing how

our fighting men joke the day after they have experienced the hell of an axis air raid. Will Rogers kidded the most prominent men and events. . He was merciless in his razzing of congressmen and now his son is one of them. f : That is America tor you. . Abraham Lincoln found time for humor despite the terrible burden that rested upon his shoulders. © I can readily see Mr. Manning's point of view, but think he takes the wrong slant. It is the filthy whispering type of propaganda stories that should be condemned. In these times we need a good It is the American way of life. 2 x =

| “WE'LL LET JAPS KNOW

WHAT'S GOING ON”

.y. Carl R. Clark, 240 8. 23d st., New Castle.

Thanks to Mrs. R. w. Clift of Mooresville, Ind., for speaking her statements of the Japs working in our ‘defense plants — regardless whether they were born in America or Japan. : If the colored people are segregated in these plants and are taxpayers here in Indiana and all over America, then why put the Japs to work on the privilege that they are paying for? If some of the persons who: have knocked the colored man. so much were just put in his place for just one year, then they would know what hurts. , . . We give our portion of oye to

Side Glances-=By Galbraith

the army of Uncle Sam. We buy bonds and stamps and have also offered blood donations which have been refused and yet we are called

to give. We are not strikers—we nedd the work too bad—but if we were on a job with ‘a Jap there would be a strike and the Jap would go down. I am a colored man and I don't want to work with him any more than some of the white men want to work with me. I feel that I would be a credit to any white man in preference of a Jap. : 1 have not forgot the sinking of

the Panay, nor the attack of Pearl}

Harbor. of such a sneak attack. . will the Japs. ‘We'll buy war stamps, also’ more war bonds. We'll let the Japs know what going on when the enemy comes to the land of the free. Who'll invite them ‘here? I'm sure it won't be.me. X # » “YOU CAN'T BUY FOOD AT 1932 PRICES” By Mrs. Nell B. Purky, 2806 N. Talbot st. I wish to put in my ideas on the subject discussed by Mr. D. G. Lucas of 1227 Windermire st. ; In the first place, why is Mr. Lucas so sure that his house is the house discussed by V. C. Dearborn? He says that V. C. Dearborn is. an agent. I would be willing to bet that V. C. Dearborn rents more than one house. . . . But suppose Mr. Lucas’ house is the house that V. C. Dearborn is referring to. Mr. Lucas says he

rented that house 11 years ago for $20 a month. . That was at the bottom of the depression. Does Mt.

. I can’t tors st the day . Neither

penses on that property are the same as in 1932? Would Mr. Lucas be happy on a 1932 income? I have the same grocer, coal man and druggist I had in 1932 but I do not get my groceries, coal and drugs for what I paid in 1932. 1 bought at the same downtown department stores in 1932 that I buy, from in 1943 but could I persuade

at 1932 prices? Mr. Lucas pays $20 per month for a five-room modern house on a nice

‘I'street on the south side. This is $4

a month or about 13 cents a day per room. I should like to know what the taxes, cost of a coat of paint, a new furnace or a decorating job would cost on that house. As for the rent ‘board — whoever would believe they are a neutral body? They go out of their way

; to’ protect fellows like you.

Loo om

“SYMPHONY TAX

PROPOSAL IS UNTIMELY”

| By Ed Bayless, 4928 Guilford ave. I am more than willing to pay {taxes to carry on this war and to | continue = the’ necessary govern-| ' {mental functions. But this new ; proposal to finance the symphony ! l orchestra through taxation is un-| h timely, unnecessary and disgusting.|

Do we want to. pay taxes to sup-

{port bunch of modern eros whol

slackers because we have no more

Lucas think that the owner's ex-|°

them to sell me sheeting and shoes|"

made by Rubber Director William Jeffers.

This ‘was considered quite an honor for. 3-biand new committeeman, Rep. Forest A. Harness. (R. Ind.) ‘is serving his third term on the military affairs come mittee, But was not ong of the minority afen named,

Modesty Attracts Attention

QUIET AND soft-spoken, “Bob” Grant, as he " known to intimates, has bided his time here. He has represented the Republicans from the state on the G. O. P. committee on committees. But he has been content to try and pluck the plums of major come mittee assignments for his solleagues and take a back

| seat himself.

. He was satisfied with. membership on. such ‘wholly innocuous committees as census, invalid pensions and postoffice. and post roads. Such modest conduct, in a hotbed of egotism and pushfulness, attracts attention. So this session Mi. nority Leader Martin insisted on ‘putting Mr. Grant on naval affairs, A pre-war isolationist, Mr. Grant now. feels thas the U. S. A. must assume a major role in world peace. “I certainly do not believe in sinking our navy like we did the last time,” he declared,

Typical Midwest Congressman

HIS INTEREST in the navy bears directly on the third Indiana district which he represents, he pointed out, For Notre Dame university, Mr. Grant's alma mater, now is training 2500 naval officers at a time, In addition, the great Bendix plant &t South Bend. and others in that industrial. area, have huge navy contracts. Mr. and Mrs. Grant were. featured m Lite maga zine in pictures taken from Washington and; South Bend to illustrate the homecoming of a typical Mide western ‘congressman. Since those pictures weré taken, a son, Robert A. Grant Jr., was born April 27, 1943, He is training to be a sailor with tiny bathtub boats.

I Tax Lexicon

By Thomas E Stokes

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.—Amer= ‘ican taxpayers, which means prace fically all of us, dre being intros ‘duced to a new lexicon—and we all might as well get wised up to it. “Doubling up,” for example. That is a phrase that runs, like a “geared citizen before a tax collece tor, all. through the talk that, buzzes these days in the house ways and rieans committee room, z There the elders, with some help from mathematically sharp gentlemen of the treasury, are trying ot work out a “pay-as-you-go” tax plan. They sit - in majestic solemnity on a: semi-circular ‘dais, with hardly even a quip to ruffle the magnificent curtains behind them. “Doubling up”. is not what's done in Washington { hotels, nor is it a new form of wartime bundling. It’s much worse—and it’s going to be painful. “Doubling up,” for us taxpayers, means that the treasury intends for us to pay taxes this year on both 1942 and 1943 income.

Lest We Forget 1942

WE CAN'T just forget 1942, and pay this year only on 1943 incomés, as proposed in the Ruml plan devised ‘by big and jovial Beardsley Ruml, which was 50 joyously received by everybody until the treasury stepped before the curtains in the serious person of ‘its general counsel, Randolph Paul. Which brings us to another word in our new lexicon, the sweet. word “forgiveness.” This is what the treasury says Mr. Paul would do for us—forgive taxes on 1942 income, just wipe them out, like sins—although Mr. Ruml himself objects that the word gives a distorted idea of his proposal, He prefers to think of his. plan as “a change in’ the method. of assessment.” But even the treasury, according to: Spokesman Paul, is willing to practice some “forgiveness,” some percentage reduction in the 1942 burden, Xo

Voters, Remember the Word!

IT MAY BE significant that the word: “forgiveness® was introduced into the new lexicon by Mr. Paul himself, in preference to such less sympathetic words as . “cancellation” and “writing off.” He used it Jepeatedly. For there was a political undertone to his’ Dresenta-Ay ‘tion of the “pay-as-you-go” plan, and perhaps it might lead to.good feeling among the millions who would benefit by some reduction to know that they had been “forgiven” by a generous administration. Mr. Paul took: pains to show how much; in dollars, it would mean to upper-bracket taxpayers, especially = those with war contracts, to omit the taxes ‘on 1043 income. : Mr. Paul had no: sooner dropped: the word. giveness” into the air than it was plucked off members of the committee, for they would like - share the political credit for any forgiving. Voters, remember that word “forgiveness.” :

>

We the Worn 3

By Ruth Millett

Zi ‘MEN N.var. plants he .women workers are newcomers “have reached the point of admite a 0g tant Smeg dons really tindes